It never ends, does it

JimD

Waiting for Godot...
Moderator
So after doing battle with a new carb and feeling pretty happy with myself, another problem has cropped up. Isn't that the way it goes?

I believe the solenoid has come loose from the starter. I thought it was just a loose wire, because I could grab the lead and feel "looseness". I could push it back toward the starter (getting second degree burns in the process) and get the car to start with an assistant turning the key. That got me thru yesterday's Cars'N'Coffee event.

This morning I got up determined to tighten that loose wire. After some looking with a mirror and feeling around the area, I noticed that the lead wasn't really "loose", it was "springy". I can see the leads are connected with a mirror and when I put my hand up under the exhaust I can follow the leads to the solenoid cap and feel the spring resistance as I push it back into place. :(

I wonder if this is where the stray bolt came from. It seems too long, but that's just guessing.

I was so excited to have this car in what I thought was operating condition for around town. Bummer. It will be parked for a while till I can find time to work on it. Although a kinda minor issue, it is very aggravating given the location of the starter on the 124 Special.
 
What a day

So I decided to take a run at reattaching the solenoid today. The shop manual said to remove the 2 bolts holding the heat shield in place, there were actually 3. The third was much smaller and it took me a while to find. Then it took a while to get the rusty nuts off the studs.. spray... wait ... wrench... repeat 4evah till the damn things finally let go.

With the heat shield removed I could see that there was only one bolt/nut set remaining on the solenoid. There was a 3/4" gap between the solenoid and the mounting surface it should be fastened to. Had I remembered to take a picture, you would see what I am talking about. I saved the bolt I found laying in there a few weeks ago, so I had a plan to get the solenoid bolted back together without removing the starter. That was not a great plan. :(

I managed to kinda get a nut and the saved bolt in place. Of course it turns out it wasn't the right bolt anyway, but was long enough. The solenoid is now back in place, but I couldn't really tighten the nut on either bolt properly because it is all supposed to happen with the starter out of the car. There is no room to get a socket in there and I should have regrouped. Unfortunately I was like a dog on a rag and I was determined I could make it work. :rolleyes:

The starter is cranking normally again, but I am sure solenoid will come loose again in a matter of days or weeks. Then I may park the car till winter and start acquiring parts to tackle a few more tasks when I finally have to remove the starter.

I really need to get smarter. :dunce:
 
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